The first 72 hours...

"Jet lag...is like being in a musical you don't want to be in." -Lady Gaga

     Who knew that working overnights would actually be beneficial?  Thanks to the training of going entire nights without sleeping I actually did not suffer too bad with jet lag.  It also helped that I arrived in Korea just in time to go to sleep for the night

     The first two night I stayed in a guest house, or at least that is what Koreans call it.  Basically I felt like I was in a ship cabin.  The room was a very small box with no windows, however it had everything that I needed.  One thing I will have to get used to is Korean showers.  The shower is not separated at all from the rest of the bathroom which is actually very convenient if you want to shower, go to the bathroom, and brush your teeth all at the same time.

The picture on the right is of the hallway, see what I mean about the ship comparison?

 I took this photo off of an advertisement for the guest house.  See how tiny the room really is?

I arrived around 12:30 Thursday morning.  After sleeping for a couple of hours I was thrown right in.  I went to the school on Thursday to shadow and even taught one class.  On Friday I was right back at school and taught four classes.  It is very awkward because for every class that I have taught so far the Korean supervisors have been in the class watching me, so far the have not given me any feedback but hopefully I did well.  

Friday night I was able to move into my apartment.  I don't know how it happened but I actually have one of the nicest (read biggest) apartments of all the teachers.

There was a male teacher living in the apartment before me and you can tell.  I spent most of Saturday scrubbing the kitchen and bathroom, which also involved me having to go and buy Korean cleaning products.

 Shoes are never worn in Korean houses.  There is always a small step up to go into an apartment or house and shoes are not allowed beyond that step.  This is a problem as I have a lot of shoes and all of my shoes are very large.  

 Most Korean apartments also have this weird little utility room in the back.  Mine houses my washing machine and water heater.  Every time I want hot water I need to first turn on the water heater and then when I am done with the hot water I need to turn it off again.  

Thank goodness my bathroom is slightly larger than the guest house.  At least in this bathroom I can attempt to keep the water away from the toilet.  I learned the hard way that it is very hard to keep your clothing dry when trying to use the bathroom as everything is constantly wet from showering.

On my flight there was a very large group of Japanese high school students returning from a trip to the United States.  To make everyone on the plane happier to have 150 high school students next to them they gave each passenger a bookmark before boarding.

So far I have really enjoyed my time here.  As the days go on I am becoming more brave and venturing out more, before I arrived I expected that there wouldn't be any signs in English. Surprisingly a lot of  restaurants have menus in English and signs on the street also have English.  One of the other teachers told me this is because of all of the English teachers.  Suji is apparently a place where wealthy people move to raise their kids, so there is an English school on almost every corner.  

On Monday I start a full day of teaching! I am very nervous but also excited to start.  I am teaching a lot of reading classes.  For the upper level classes we are starting with "Number the Stars" and later will be reading "The Giver."  

Fear

"Do one thing everyday that scares you" - Mary Schmich

     In ten days I will be in the air flying to Suji, South Korea to spend a year teaching English and I am terrified. 

      I am terrified of the language barrier and very different culture.  I have traveled extensively before but all of my travels have been to places with European based cultures and Slavic or Romance based languages, both of which I have studied.  I also have a fear of not being able to make friends.  I know that this is a stupid fear and of course I will eventually meet people and by the end of the year I will be crying and feeling like I cannot live without them.  However this is my first time having a real adult job where my friend group will most likely come from my co-workers and as there are only 7 of them the irrational part of me fears that none of them will like me.

                      
                           Suji is about an hour outside of Seoul, the nearest large city is Suwon

        My third fear is probably my biggest fear: that I will not accomplish all that I have set out to do while in Korea.  I have many reasons for choosing to go to Korea, the first one being that I do not want to be a real adult yet.  I have described this year as responsible running away.  I am avoiding starting a career but at the same time am being responsible by saving money and starting to pay off my student loans.  The second reason for going to Korea is that I need time to get into shape.  My ultimate goal is to come back from Korea and be able to apply to the Madison Police Department Academy.  In order to get in I have to complete certain physical tests, such as 15 push-ups, that I currently cannot do.  Of all the research I have done on the city that I am moving to the most research has gone into finding a gym, fitness classes, or anything that I can join as soon as I arrive to start my new schedule and new routine with exercise built in.

I thought after living in Denmark packing would be a breeze, its not.

     Also while in Korea I have a few big trips that I would like to take.  Once I actually start my career it will no longer be possible to take month long trips so I want to go to as many places as I can now.  Before I return to the US permanently I am hoping to take trips to Southeast Asia (Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, and Thailand) and Australia and New Zealand. 

       In the midst of these fears it is easy to forget about my excitement.  I am so excited to be traveling again, to see new places, and to meet new people.  The quote, "Do one thing everyday that scares you," does not mean to live in fear everyday.  It instead is urging you to overcome your fear and to prove that you are stronger than you think.  My goal in the next 10 days is to do just that overcome my fears and have the excitement come to the forefront.  Until then I have a lot of packing to do, goodbyes to say, and planning so, so much planning.